Had Diane Harkey never gone postal on Darrell Issa, I may have never looked in to her background
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I took the time to talk to people that like Diane Harkey. I needed to in order to balance the avalanche of media stories. As a conservative, I am used to seeing the media attack conservatives as a matter of course. I needed to get perspective which I got…
We’ve detailed quite a history up to this point, so let me summarize where we are at before I complete the story with information I am still surprised was not fully vetted.
Diane Harkey was elected to Dana Point City Council in 2004 and despite telling people she was not running for higher office went and did so promptly in 2006, losing an open primary to Tom Harman for State Senate.
Diane Harkey was also subject to a recall attempt in 2007 and was well known for tooling around town in a Bentley.
In 2008, Harkey ran for and won election to the Assembly.
In 2009, the personal financial detonation in the life of Dan and Diane Harkey began with a well-vetted and publicized lawsuit related to dishonest and possibly illegal business dealings.
in 2009, Diane Harkey was lambasted for taking donations from people with Business deals pending with her Husband.
While in the Assembly, her tenure was marred by the hiring of Bill Brough and an embarassing Wage Garnishment.
In 2013, Dan Harkey was found Civilly liable for $12.5 Million in damages related to the failed business. Diane Harkey has attempted to separate herself from it, despite being listed as an employee and otherwise being connected.
In 2013, Diane Harkey sued Mark Wyland for libel, losing an Anti-SLAPP judgement she was able to overturn on appeal. She dropped that suit once the Anti-SLAPP was vacated in 2015. Wyland ran against Harkey for Board of Equalization.
While at the Board of Equalization, the multiple scandals came to a head. Why she decided to engineer getting herself elected Chairman of that board is a subject of debate. Nepotism, corruption, abuse of funds/staff, dilapidated mold-riddled buildings and the like led to a historic shredding of the function and authority of the BOE while she was chair of that board. Worse, she defended the BOE in several media stories.
Yet, despite being surrounded with scandal and drama, Harkey has consistently protested her innocence and has attempted to portray herself as a victim.
Nowhere was this more evident than in her disastrous 2018 run for Congress. To this day, Harkey believes that it was all Darrell Issa’s fault for her defeat. The evidence shows otherwise. She also hitched her wagon to some unhinged attacks against Mr. Issa in 2020 that caused several political insiders pause.
I have also been struck by stories about Harkey’s personal conduct. It is like she is two people. One group of people talk about a kind, generous person. Another group of people talk about a mean, angry, entitled candidate that drank a lot. Two things I know based on my research, she has a temper and she has a difficult time accepting any responsibility for the things that have gone on around her.
In the course of my research, I have found copies of her Form 700’s from 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018 and the 2019 exit form. I also have a copy of her FEC candidate financial interest form as well. This caused me to double down on research from 2014. It would prove to be critical to finally once and for all exposing the truth about the finances of Dan and Diane Harkey.
One of the most striking items beyond the Bentley she once drove are the notations of a private jet. It appears to have been sold in 2014.
In 2009 – Harkey made the single most damming comment I have seen in dozens of news stories to the LA Times when they covered the SEC investigation in to Dan Harkey:
“I’ve been married for 25 years to my husband,” said the Dana Point Republican. “We have personal income. He has income. I have income. Sometimes it was my income. Sometimes it was his income. Sometimes it’s both of our incomes. And I’ve saved him financially many years. So I’m not going to get into whose, yours, mine, ours. Who knows after 25 years?”
Harkey said she’s been unfairly drawn into business litigation that has nothing to do with her work as a lawmaker.
So whose private Jet was it? Whose Bentley was it? Whose $2 Million plus in campaign cash was it? According to Diane Harkey – anything is possible, meaning that claims she financed her campaigns all or in part with dirty money from dubious enterprises and legally proven fraud is indeed confirmed true by her own words. Mark Wyland should have never lost the Anti-SLAPP decision in 2015. But if that is not enough for you, keep reading. Neither the DCCC nor Mark Wyland did enough homework.
IN 2013, Diane Harkey had to sue to get out of Community Property when her husband was in the process of losing a $12,500,000 judgement. In 2014, she claims in a letter she sent to State Controller John Chiang that she was legally separated and thus her Assembly Salary should not be garnished. She also indicates they were in the process of filing for divorce, this is another lie or at best a grotesquely deceptive statement. Remember the date of the letter 8-5-2014.
It is my opinion based on extensive research in to the business dealings and court records related to Dan and Diane Harkey that she lied twice in that letter. I’ve also received an indication from a political insider with connections close to Mrs. Harkey that confirm – Diane Harkey never filed a legal separation. Re-read the letter she wrote to John Chiang and read her comments in the media in 2014 and later. They are so clear that even the most hardened of Harkey supporters can understand them – she made it clear she and Dan were legally separated multiple times.
The deception over the Harkey divorce is critical to understanding the unethical and dishonest behavior of both Harkeys.
Just months after Dan Harkey lost the lawsuit judgement, Diane Harkey created DHJP2, LLC. This was on 12-18-2013, and thanks to the 2015 financial disclosure it appeared on where it was not present on the 2013 disclosure causing me to believe it was started in 2014, I looked for it. It was probably a part of the missing form 700 I could not find on line.
What is the significance of DHJP2, LLC and the two lies to John Chiang? When we continue our expose in to Diane Harkey, we are going to finish the work that none of Harkey’s opponents ever did.
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